If you were to browse around the internet looking for spoon bread recipes, you’d see that more than a few of them are leavened solely with egg foams. It’s thought that most early spoon breads were leavened this way until chemical leaveners like baking powder came into broad use in the mid-1800’s. Why not just […]
READ ONReader Gillian writes As an Australian I feel it incumbent upon me to point out something you almost certainly already know: we had an early colonial Rum Rebellion. It’s the closest we’ve come to a revolution, I’m afraid, but at least it was liquorbased. And it deposed Governor Bligh (the same Bligh who had trouble […]
READ ONReader Sonny corrects me that spoon bread isn’t just for hill folk anymore. It’s been a Southern favorite for generations. Just goes to show that even though I’ve lived in Kentucky for six years now, I have still haven’t quite earned my Southern bona fides. Thanks for keeping me honest, Sonny — and I’m working […]
READ ONIt’s debatable where spoon bread first originated, though it is known where the world’s best spoon bread is served: right here in Kentucky at the Boone Tavern in Berea. This spoon bread has been drawing crowds to the Boone Tavern for over 60 years. 3 cups whole milk 1 1/4 cups (5 1/2 ounces) cornmeal […]
READ ONUnless I start rambling on incessantly (which, you know, I can do), this should be a pretty brief topic. For spoon bread is a very basic thing, a sort of corn soufflé, except that it’s made by hillbillies. I should amend that: Appalachians. Spoon bread has its roots in Indian — scratch that: Native American […]
READ ONHere’s something I’ve learned about Bananas Foster: it doesn’t photograph well. But then what did I expect when I spooned hot caramel sauce over ice cream? The real visual magic of this dish happens during the preparation. As soon as it’s plated, it begins its transformation into a melty mass of sweet, rummy goodness. No […]
READ ONWhat discussion of Bananas Foster would be complete without at least a passing reference to its other key ingredient: rum. Talk about a cursed commodity, rum was one of the three pillars of the notorious Traingle Trade which we all learned about in grade school. Need a refresher? Thought not. Here’s one anyway: The Triangle […]
READ ONIt’s the one week out of the year when I eat corn dogs. There’s one particular vendor at the Kentucky State Fair that does them just right. Painted on all sides with a thin coat of yellow mustard, they are a wonder. My first year in Kentucky (now six years ago) I actually paid a […]
READ ONBotanically speaking, not a whole lot, since they’re all part of the Musa genus. Once all fruits of that shape were known simply as “bananas”, the sweet yellow varieties like the Cavendish were called “dessert bananas.” Plantains are a much starchier version of a banana. They’re larger, denser, and are rarely eaten raw (or in […]
READ ONI’ve received many, many emails the last few days about the Top Banana post down below, asking what other varieties of bananas are out there, where they can be had, and even whether they can be grown at home. That last question reminded me of one of my great boyhood caveat emptor moments. I was […]
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